4 Classes, 1 Weekend: Self #UpNOutStudio Event

This weekend I died and went to fitness heaven at Self Up & Out Studio. A bunch of studios from around the country came together at the gorgeous Spring Studios for a whirlwind weekend of working out. I wish I had come up with the idea for this event because it’s pretty brilliant to bring a ton of different studios under one roof.

Each class was shortened to 40 minutes long (I think the majority studios usually teach a 60 minute format) to give you a taste of what the studio is all about. I think the most impressive aspect of the event was that there were 6 different rooms housing workouts throughout the weekend. That’s a lot of sweating going on.

The  majority of studios participating were NYC based– Flywheel (yes they had a Flywheel stadium set up, bikes and all!), Pure Barre, Kettlebell Kickboxing, 305 Fitness, CITYROW, Mile High Run Club, Barry’s Bootcamp and CPX. I was especially excited to check out the new-to-me classes from other cities– PlyoJam, JetSet Miami and SHIFT by Dana Perri. During the weekend I ended up taking 4 classes total and tried to focus on new classes to me instead of old favorites. How often do I get to take a popular class from Miami?

305 Fitness

I couldn’t resist taking a class with 305 Fitness even though I’ve taken a ton of their classes. 305 is often described as Zumba on crack, which is pretty accurate. Think high energy, non stop dancing like you would do in a club (not that I would know truthfully…) but with a fitness flare. One thing that really sets 305 apart is the live DJ at every class. During the 40 minute classes I was drenched with sweat and seriously loved instructor Hannah’s fun approach to teaching. It was all about having a good time and not being self conscious. Cheers to that.

JetSet Miami

Classes at this Miami based studio are typically done on a megaformer. Instead we used gliders which are torturous in their own way. Doing lunges on the gliders sounds all easy… until your 40 seconds into an exercise and shaking profusely. The class was so simple in theory– doing lunges and planks more or less with the gliders, but SO hard because gliders make everything hard. Next time I’m in Florida I have to check out their megaformer class, I can only imagine how tough it is.

PlyoJam

I had SO much fun dancing with PlyoJam, a Los Angeles based high energy dance class. I may or may not have spent the whole class pondering opening my own PlyoJam studio in NYC because I was loving it so much. Cardio dance has a special place in my heart as a former dancer/ musical theater nerd. PlyoJam uses easy to follow dance moves plus amped up intervals like jump squats and jumping jacks all set to popular music. Think Zumba but with more energy and less salsa.

Instructor Jason, who also created the workout, made sure everyone was having a good time and kept us laughing throughout class. He was concerned about how lack of skill when it comes to body rolling and stopped the class to give us a quick body rolling tutorial. You learn something new everyday 🙂

SHIFT by Dana Petri

Shift stands for Shifting How I Feel Today, which is a philosophy instructors and owners Dana and Kit really infused into the workout we did. The first chunk was cardio interval based, think high knees, jump squats, the usual suspects. At their Los Angeles studio the floor is actually a cushiony gymnastics floor to help lessen the impact when it comes to jumping.

After getting our heart rate way up we strength trained with resistant bands and ended with some planks and core work. I adored Dana and Kit’s encouraging demeanor and their focus on feeling great overall– not just the aesthetic aspect of working out. My kind of people.

As you can tell, I really loved this event and hope Self does more like it in the future!